For The Love of the Game

Baseball is the "great American pastime", but it doesn't appeal to me at all.   Some live for it and find it highly exciting to watch.   I find it wrist-slittingly boring and there aren't even any cheerleaders for heaven's sake.   I like watching little kids play baseball in little league, but that's the extent.  Six and seven-year-old's kind of suck at everything and I find it funny watching children fall down. One of my few joys in life.

Part of my distaste for baseball could stem from the fact that my parents forced me to play baseball as a kid and I was unquestionably the worst player on the team year after year.    (This applied to soccer as well.)   The coaches would always hand out awards at the end of the season and I always got the Participatory Award, which would have been more aptly named the You Suck Award.   At some point I knew I would just mess up, so I sort of just stopped trying.  I would just stand on the field like a dipshit* and drag everyone else down.  Funny how this notion never went away.  








I teach alot of kids how to play guitar here in NYC.   Frequently, I am asked whether I like the Yankees or the Mets.   My stock answer was always that I don't watch baseball, but I guess I would choose the Yankees.    I have since altered my answer to the Mets ...and that I still don't watch baseball.   The Yankees might lose a few games here and there or maybe even lose the pennant by a game, but their history is still full of successes.    For the Mets, it's quite the opposite.   The Mets are losers, but they keep getting out there and playing game after game, as futile as their efforts might be.  I find the effort inspiring, although most would deem it pathetic.  The Yankees will always come out winners and the the Mets will always be losers.   That's just the way it is.   "For the love of the game", as they say.  

Incidentally, I don't watch basketball either, but my favorite team is the Washington Generals.    I have searched high and low for a Washington Generals jersey to wear, but no one sells them, nor have I ever seen any Generals merchandise on Ebay.   At one point, I thought about going to a game with a hundred dollar bill and trying to buy a jersey off a player.   That never really panned out and I stopped thinking about it until today.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Generals

Thanks to Cliff for the inspiration to have a baseball related blog.   You can read his blog over at: http://titusonetwo.blogspot.com/

*I hope no one is offended by the use of the word dipshit, but it sums up my athletic abilities better than any other word.

A good day to be a nerd.

So, I'm at work today and Star Wars artist Kevin Liell calls me on my cell. You may remember him from NY Comic Con where he held the Star Wars Trivia Contest. A great guy and spectacular artist. He had an extra ticket to the World Business Forum being held in Radio City Music Hall, where George Lucas was speaking from 5-6pm. I managed to get off work because I couldn't pass this up. Being a nerd, I got there early and had some things for him to sign 'just in case'. I showed up and he had just walked in less than five minutes before. One guy was there and had about ten things signed by George. I was bummed.

Anyway, I guess George talked for about an hour about his career and then it was over. Well, the Lord almighty smiled on me today. After the talk, Kevin and I went to the stage door and hung out for a little while. Eventually George came out and I got two things signed. My 1975 third draft script and a photo which was already signed by Gary Kurtz. I could have had more signed but there were a bunch of professional autograph hunters which mobbed him. It was successful, even if I didn't get to talk or anything.

The Coffee Cake Conundrum

There are many things in life I just don't understand, which range anywhere from the popularity of Jack White to the willingness of Mac users dish out $3000+ for a computer in the 21st century. But whatever. Coffee Cake falls into the category of things I don't understand.


Let me explain. I don't drink coffee. It just isn't my thing. I like the smell, but that's about as far as it goes. I don't like coffee-flavored anything. That includes the following: coffee, ice cream, cake, gum, or you name it. Some people live for coffee but not me.

For the majority of my life, I lived without coffee cake because I don't like the taste of coffee. At one point in the last few years, I remember having a similar conversation to this with somebody.

Unnamed individual: "Daniel, would you like some coffee cake?"
Me: "No, thank you. I don't like the taste of coffee."
Unnamed individual: "Coffee cake doesn't taste like coffee. It's called that because you eat it with coffee."
Me: "That's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life."

I don't know what genius named coffee cake, but he/she is officially on my black list. I don't call french fries "Cheeseburger Sticks". I don't call ketchup "Hot Dog Juice". What jackass came up with the reasoning behind the name for Coffee Cake? Since when do we name food for what it might go well with? Sometimes I wonder why I get up in the morning with morons like this running the world. All this time I could have been eating coffee cake had one of my hundreds of "friends" let me in on this secret.

Labor Day Weekend 2009 - The Food :)

The Shed - Santa Fe, NM: Green chile stew followed by blue corn chicken enchiladas.



Orlando's - Taos, NM: Chile rellenos


El Paragua - Espanola, NM: Chips, salsa and salad followed by two chile rellenos. This salsa was super hot. New Yorkers would have been crying.


The Cowgirl Cafe - Santa Fe, NM: Chile rellenos


Besides the food at the Cowgirl Cafe, the servers are all really cute and dreamy. My adorable server had "serenity" tattooed on her hands. This should give me enough ammo to dream about for a year.


Just a sample of the rainbow trout I caught during my short trip. Much larger fish than back in April.

Labor Day Weekend 2009 - New Mexico

I spent more time in New Mexico over the long weekend. It is a home away from home. and such a nice place to escape to.

The Ring 2 - part 2; The Ring 3 - part 1

This is starting to sound like a bunch of horror movies, but it is just more of me banging on quarters. I realized I never posted pictures of the second ring.

Long story short, the second ring was just way too small. It looks pretty good though. I have since these pictures smoothed out the edges a little bit.


Seeing as my personality won't let me live with something I don't like, I looked on Ebay and found another 1938 ring.


That arrived at my place on 8-29-09. In four hours on Saturday, I pounded, drilled and shaped it into this. FOUR hours start to finish. Pretty dang good.



Here are the three rings I have made thus far. The first ring (on the left) was a little too big, the second (on the right) was too small and the third fits just right and has the most words visible. I only have a little left to do on it, but it will probably have to wait until I get back from vacation. On that vacation I will see my parents and see if they want the first two rings. I'll keep the third.

We aren't as tough as we would like to think.

There's something very peaceful to me about watching a violent storm from a high rise. It makes me smile seeing the proud run for cover.


"Can you send forth lightning that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are'?" -- Job 36:32

8-18-09
(Click on images for full size)

All seems quiet....

but there is a lurking terror.....
ready to strike.

Ready......

aim.....

FIRE!